May 18, 2013
Mike HicksA recent study by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, sheds a great deal of light on the sausage mill of policy
research, and the courage and integrity of the process of policy research altogether.
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May 11, 2013
Mike HicksAt the beginning of the Great Recession, in December 2007, there were more than 26 full-time workers for each part-time employee
looking for full-time work. By June 2009, that number had shrunk to less than 15 full-time workers for each part-timer. There
it has remained.
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May 4, 2013
Mike HicksBrain drain is a genuine problem in Indiana. But instead of slowing this trend, our higher education financing policies accelerate
this problem by pushing more students into majors that are in demand elsewhere.
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April 27, 2013
Mike HicksIndiana enjoys what economists call a “structural surplus” in state tax revenue. This means the several-hundred-million-dollar
surplus is a permanent affair when viewed against current expenditures. It would be astonishing if this did not lead to calls
for a tax cut, and so it has.
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April 20, 2013
Mike HicksAlong with the sadness and anger that accompanies the Boston bomb explosions should come the realization that this could well
be our lot for decades to come. We should expect and prepare for the worst.
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April 13, 2013
Mike HicksA most remarkable book, “Bourgeois Dignity: Why Economics Can’t Explain the Modern World,”, says all the
explanations of the explosion of economic growth that occurred about 300 years ago are inadequate.
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April 6, 2013
Mike HicksPerhaps difficult economic times unleash the power of long-discredited ideas into general circulation, because three bad intellectual
influences merit noting—one from the political right, one bipartisan folly and one from the left.
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March 30, 2013
Mike HicksA public fight has emerged among economists over the past few weeks, which likely spells major policy changes over the coming
years.
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March 23, 2013
Mike HicksThe 10th anniversary of the start of the second Iraq war is an opportunity to reflect upon the economics of the conflict.
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March 16, 2013
Mike HicksMost government statistics are preliminary releases, intended to be revised, so they provide a poor picture even to someone
with clear context on their meaning.
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March 9, 2013
Mike HicksThe dramatic reintroduction of payroll taxes makes this year’s tax increase most injurious to the working poor and the
lower-to-middle-income families.
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March 2, 2013
Mike HicksI am often asked some version of the question, “Can we really survive becoming a service economy—won’t our
loss of manufacturing jobs spell doom for our country?” The answer is, “No.”
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February 23, 2013
Mike HicksHidden within the unserious politics of the minimum-wage debate lies an important discussion of why many workers have not
seen their wages grow over the past generation. It simply takes some digging.
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February 16, 2013
Mike HicksAs the president noted, no one should doubt that raising a family while earning minimum wage is a hard business; perhaps that
is why almost nobody does it.
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February 9, 2013
Mike HicksThe stock market highs over the past few months have many folks confused.
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February 2, 2013
Mike HicksSometimes the worst part of the economic forecasting I do is the sinking feeling that my predictions will be right.
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January 26, 2013
Mike HicksThe United States has always had something like a middle class, but for most of our history it has been a distinction not
necessarily dependent on income or wealth.
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January 19, 2013
Mike HicksWe appear to be headed for a government shutdown as our leaders in Washington, D.C., find themselves at an impasse on the
largest question facing the nation: how to cut spending.
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January 12, 2013
Mike HicksThe Great Recession wasn’t caused by a housing market collapse; it was more than that. Our economic unwinding required
lots of failures.
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January 5, 2013
Mike HicksIt was clear the poison pill of the fiscal cliff required too much courage for our “leaders” in Washington. So,
we will have what, at first blush, appears to be the worst possible compromise.
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December 29, 2012
Mike HicksNo matter your politics, you must admit that Mitch Daniels has been the most consequential Hoosier governor in more than a
lifetime.
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December 22, 2012
Mike HicksThe vintage and durability of classic Christmas songs carry an important economic lesson for our times.
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December 15, 2012
Mike HicksThis is the season of economic forecasts, for which there are many uses beyond their pure entertainment value.
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December 8, 2012
Mike HicksOur republic can—and probably should—run a debt. As a great nation, we build and do things that endure, and these
should be paid for, in part, by successive generations.
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December 1, 2012
Mike HicksThe popular media lately has been full of astonishing piffle with regard to taxation—so much so that a reasonably smart
listener might suppose there was some magnificent disagreement among economists, like there is among lawyers in a court case.
That is not the case.
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these guys only skill was to steal from other's hard earned savings.
I voted for him last time and it WAS the LAST time. He needed to to quit running around the world on useless trips, and giving our $$ away to sports teams. I'll vote for anyone but Ballard next time. BTW...we gave $40M to the Pacers and cannot even watch the games on TV.
For the people concerned about traffic, you should know that mixed-use projects (like the one being proposed), actually allows for and encourages more people to walk and bike, thereby mitigating additional automobile traffic. If we continue to design and build suburban-type projects in the City (i.e. automobile-oriented projects), we are not offering anything different from what the suburbs offer, which means we will continue to lose jobs/people to the suburbs. The reason Broad Ripple is somewhat successful today is that people want to live in a place that offers the convenience of being able to walk/bike to restaurants, retail, nightlife, the Monon, etc. Why would you not want to support a project that is complimentary to what already makes the area desirable? The real argument with this project should be its lack-luster design and layout, not the density.
It is unfortunate that there is a perception that celebrities validate an event. The Indy 500 stands on its own, especially for those coming in from out of town. It was always so disturbing to read the gushing descriptions of Ashley Judd threaded throughout the local coverage. Very happy that era is at an end.
Good ole' Obamacare. Thanks liberals and those who didn't bother to vote.